Mexico must back up federal measure to protect press

Using guns, grenades, explosives, and other deadly means, criminals
have assaulted
four Mexican newsrooms in less than six weeks. One of the country's top
journalists, Lydia Cacho, was the target of a chilling
death threat last month. Journalists in Veracruz have gone missing
or been killed
this year. Press fatalities
in Mexico remain among the highest in the world, leading to vast
self-censorship. And the perpetrators? They are not only well organized and heavily
armed, they enjoy
near-complete impunity for their attacks on the press. Mexican lawmakers
began to address the crisis this year, but now they risk losing the momentum.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California entered
the debate. He noted that the Mexican Congress passed
a landmark constitutional amendment this year granting federal authorities
the power to prosecute crimes against the press. CPJ had long
advocated for the legislation. But the constitutional amendment remains an
empty decree until, as Schiff noted, the legislature passes follow-up laws to
define the responsibilities of federal law enforcement agencies and provide
them with the resources and training to investigate and bring to justice the criminals
who attack free expression.

"When cartels can kill them with impunity, how can we expect
journalists to expose their activities?" Schiff, founder
and co-chairman of the U.S. Congressional Freedom of the Press Caucus, wrote
in an August 10 commentary in the San
Diego Union-Tribune. "A law alone will not stop the violence, but it will
let the cartels know that an attack on a journalist is an attack on a free
Mexican society, and the attackers will be pursued with every resource the
Mexican government can marshal."

Schiff is also the author of the Daniel Pearl Freedom
of the Press Act, which requires the State
Department to document press freedom conditions worldwide, including violence
against journalists. For CPJ and others monitoring press freedom conditions,
the Mexican legislature can demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law and
its citizens' right to information by acting, now, to adopt the legislation
needed to effectively combat anti-press crimes.